I’ve been told that one of the best things a writer can do is read. And, I do. Not as fast as I used to, but I still knock off 2-3 books a month.

I would like to share my thoughts on three of the books I’ve read over the last couple of months. These are recommendations, not reviews, although I will comment on each.

The first is 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I always enjoy a good King. Wait–that doesn’t sound right. I enjoy reading a good Stephen King novel. This one was particularly interesting to me because of the setting. I was raised in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area (or Ft. Worth/Dallas area depending on your affiliation), I grew up in the era depicted and his description of Texas is spot on.

This is not scary King, it’s suspenseful, fantasy, time travel King. It has to do with the Kennedy assassination, but I will go no further than that. You have to read it to find out the details. He still manages to throw in a few creep factor things that give you that ‘something’s not quite right feeling.’

11/22/63 gets four out of five stars. The only reason it’s not five is because of the length. I am not averse to reading long tomes, but I know the average reader might balk at it’s 842 page length.

(I’ll let you in on a secret. Before I started revisions on my book, it was well over that. Suffice it to say, I am cutting).

The next book is The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This is a great read, and again it’s the era I grew up in. It’s set in pre-integration Mississippi and is written from the perspective of three women, two black maids and a young, white journalist/wannabe novelist. Their collaboration makes a powerful, poignant, funny, entertaining read about women and how they overcome their fear, make discoveries about themselves, and form a bond, regardless of race, in a time of unrest in the South.

If you’re not a reader, see the movie. It follows the book well enough. This one I give 5 stars for a heartfelt story, and characters who became my friends.

The last one is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This is my genre! If you love paranormal fantasy, this is a must read!

A circus that only opens after dusk and closes with the coming of dawn (and it’s not about vampires). It’s existence based on a wager made by two rival magicians. The book is richly dark and sensual. It brings to my mind a marriage of Something Wicked This Way Comes, Wuthering Heights, with a little Cirque du Soleil thrown in.

I read this book on my iPhone. Yes–I said iPhone. I think that speaks volumes that I was willing to continue to read it in that format and not stop long enough to buy the physical book. Of course, I now would like to have a copy in my library.

Absolutely 5 stars for this one. Entertaining, exotic, sensual, mystical, imaginative and just an engaging read all around (a book tailor made for Tim Burton’s directing–just sayin’).

Thank you for indulging me in my opinions. I hope that they might encourage you to pick up one or all of these books and that you enjoy them as much as I did.

Finally! I make good on my word to bring a little tidbit of my novel, Wayward.

It’s just a little taste, but hopefully enough to whet the appetite. My protagonist’s name is Simon Farrell and he’s just been through something weird and unsettling with more to come.

Go ahead, you know you’re just itching to get into Wayward, even if we don’t visit this time. Read this snippet and let me know what you think.

Regards,

Robin

WAYWARD – CHAPTER ONE

I’m going to land hard, and there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s as if my soul is being sucked back into my body at high velocity. The impact is so abrupt I slam my head into the headboard. A second of blinding white flashes behind my eyes.

“Aw shit,”

I grab my head and wince in pain. My heart hammers in my chest, I gasp for air as though I’ve run a marathon. Sweat drips from my face and runs down my neck.

Just minutes ago, my father chased me out of Cusack’s Shack. Then everything disappeared, went pitch black. A magnetic sensation took over, and I sped through darkness until I could see myself hurtling toward myself. It makes no sense and yet, it does.

I haven’t been on here for awhile. I have to get more consistent with this blog thing. Part of my absence is that I said in my last post, that I would be including an excerpt from my book, Wayward, in the next post. Trouble is, I can’t decide what to post. Do I pick something from my first chapter? Do I pull out something from another chapter? What’s just enough to make you want more? Well, you see where my head went with this.

What it really boils down to is me, getting in the way of myself. I just need to kick myself in the posterior and get disciplined to blog at least once a week. Sheesh, what a slacker!

So, this is my apology for being remiss. I’m going to pick out a little tidbit from the novel and post it!

Goodreads

Damyanti Biswas is an author, blogger, animal-lover, spiritualist. Her work is represented by Ed Wilson from the Johnson & Alcock agency. When not pottering about with her plants or her aquariums, you can find her nose deep in a book, or baking up a storm.